Vegan Diet Eases Nerve Pain of Diabetes

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For people with diabetes, switching to a plant-based diet may
ease the searing nerve pain that can come with the condition, and
perhaps reduce their risk of losing a limb, a small pilot study
has found.

More than half of adults with Type 2
diabetes may develop diabetic neuropathy, a type of nerve
damage resulting from poor blood circulation and high levels of
glucose in the blood, previous studies have shown. Diabetic
neuropathy can lead to ulcers and other infections on the legs
and feet, and is the primary cause of limb amputation for people
with diabetes.

There's no cure for diabetic neuropathy; doctors usually treat
the pain with medication and advise the patient to remain
vigilant about cleaning wounds to prevent infections.

Now, in a new study that builds on previous work suggesting that
a
plant-based, vegan diet can be as effective as medication for
treating diabetes, researchers placed 17 overweight adults with
diabetic neuropathy on a 20-week low-fat diet that emphasized
fresh vegetables and high-fiber, complex carbohydrates such as
beans and whole grains. The participants also attended weekly
nutrition classes and took a vitamin B12 supplement, a nutrient
that is important for proper nerve function but found naturally
only in animal products. [ 5
Diets That Fight Diseases ]

Compared with a control group of 17 adults who received B12
supplements but maintained their current, non-vegan diet, the
group on the vegan diet reported significant improvements in pain
relief. Tests also revealed improved circulation and nerve
function, and these participants lost, on average, 14 pounds.

Many people in this intervention group also saw improvements in
their bodies' ability to control their levels of glucose, or
blood sugar, which then allowed them to lower the dose of their
diabetes medication.

The study appears today (May 25) in the journal Nutrition &
Diabetes and was led by doctors and nutritionists at the
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a
non-profit organization that promotes preventive medicine and a
vegan diet.

"We hypothesize that by increasing your insulin sensitivity and
improving blood sugar levels, you are allowing your body time to
fix the nerve damage," said Cameron Wells, a registered dietitian
at PCRM and one of the authors of the study.

Wells described blood with high glucose levels as being "thick"
and unable to deliver nutrients to nerve endings.

Normally, glucose is
obtained from carbohydrates ; and the hormone insulin,
secreted by the pancreas, ferries glucose into cells, where it is
used as fuel. But in people with Type 2 diabetes, insulin cannot
efficiently ferry glucose from the blood into cells for reasons
not entirely understood. Thus, the blood becomes laden with
glucose.

Maintaining a healthy glucose level is called glycemic control.

"Glycemic control has been shown to prevent development and/or
progression of diabetic neuropathy," Dr. David Simpson, a
professor of neurology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who
did not work on the study, wrote to Live Science in an email.
"Furthermore, diet and exercise programs, with goal of weight
loss, assist in glycemic control and amelioration in progression
of diabetic neuropathy."

A study published in 2002 in the New England Journal of Medicine
by researchers at George Washington University found that
lifestyle changes — diet and exercise — were twice as effective
at controlling diabetes than the leading diabetes drug,
metformin.

Many of the participants in the new study told the researchers
they were impressed by how quickly they lost weight and improved
their glycemic control on the plant-based diet, Wells told Live
Science.

However, the new study was limited in that the researchers could
not determine which element of the low-fat, plant-based
diet led to the observed improvements. It could be that
merely losing weight — albeit no easy task for many — was the
main contributor to neuropathy pain reduction, the researchers
wrote.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the
annual direct cost of diabetes treatment is more than $175
billion. In the new study, the researchers noted that the cost of
a diet rich in leafy greens and other plant foods is well within
reach of most budgets.